Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Arakawa Found Dead Inside New Mexico Home
Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa have been found dead at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In a statement to the BBC, the Santa Fe County Sheriff in New Mexico said: 'We can confirm that both Gene Hackman and his wife were found deceased Wednesday afternoon at their residence on Sunset Trail.
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'This is an active investigation — however, at this time we do not believe that foul play was a factor.'
The bodies of Hackman and Arakawa were not formally identified until Thursday morning.
According to a report in the Sante Fe New Mexican newspaper, Sheriff Adan Mendoza added that Hackman and Arakawa's dog was also found dead.
Santa Fe County Sheriff's Public Information Officer Denise Avila told ABC News that the couple was found during a welfare check after their neighbor called in concerned about their well-being. No cause of death has been revealed yet.
Hackman, 95, and Arakawa, 64, had lived in Santa Fe since the 1980s, and their home was located in a gated community northeast of the city.
Hackman was a two-time Oscar-winning actor, known for playing tough guys and starred in such classic films as The French Connection, Bonnie and Clyde, I Never Sang for My Father, The Conversation, Hoosiers and Unforgiven. He retired from acting in his 70s, and was last seen on screen in the 2004 satirical comedy Welcome to Mooseport. Since he quit acting, Hackman had lived a quiet and private life in Santa Fe and rarely gave interviews.
Hackman divorced his first wife Faye Maltese in 1986. He met Arakawa, a classically trained pianist, while she was working part-time in a California fitness center. Hackman and Arakawa moved to Sante Fe in the late 1980s, and married in 1991. She became stepmother to his three children Christopher, Elizabeth Jean and Leslie Anne.
Arakawa was a private person, had no social media and gave no interviews. In interviews, Hackman, who pivoted away from acting to writing novels in the 2000s, very rarely spoke about Arakawa but did say that his wife helped him to hone his writing. Arakawa was reportedly born in Hawaii.
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